First-ever swimming lessons trying to prevent high number of drownings in Vanuatu

A new pilot project in Vanuatu is teaching children valuable lifesaving and swimming skills for the very first time, in a bid to prevent drowning deaths.

There are no records kept on just how many drownings occur each year in the Pacific country which is surrounded by water, made up by 83 islands.

But several Australians who have volunteered in the country previously, trying to promote water safety, estimate water-related deaths make up as much as 40 per cent of all accidental deaths.

There are children who have died, they've drowned because they aren't able to swim.

Bella Anis, mother

Anika Wright is a volunteer surf lifesaver in Townsville in Australia's far north and spent time in Vanuatu with her father, Ian Wright, who is also a volunteer lifesaver.

She produced a report on the situation three years ago, but little has changed.

"Hospitals don't have records of the causes of deaths," Ms Wright says.

"The office for Birth, Deaths and Marriages doesn't either. They just don't get listed because a lot of ni-Vanuatu people see drowning and water-based deaths as black magic, so they don't report them".

But Bella Anis, a mother of four from Mele village, just a few kilometres outside the capital Port Vila, says drownings are a common occurrence within the community.

"There are children who have died, they've drowned because they aren't able to swim," Ms Anis says.

Boat travel: a way of life

Boat travel is an essential part of life in Vanuatu - where many people travel over water daily - to visit other villages, tend to gardens or go to school on neighbouring islands.

But they do so at their own risk - many of the small fishing boats don't even carry lifejackets, and those that do are rarely used.

Relvie Poilapa is a mother living in the capital, Port Vila.

"I think that there've been a lot of cases in the last two years where boats have capsized depending on the conditions of the water, there's a lot of people who've not been taught how to properly keep themselves afloat for long periods of time," Relvie Poilapa says.

There is no known formal strategy to promote water nationally in Vanuatu, but now a three-month trial is offering structured swimming classes for children.

American expat and certified swim instructor Nancy Miyake's behind the trial that's collaborating with the local school in Mele village and a youth centre.

They're learning how they could possibly keep themselves afloat if they're in deep water or if they were ever in a situation where they had to implement lifesaving skills.

Relvie Poilapa, mother

"It's the first program aimed at ni-Vanuatu. All the lessons are in Bislama, they're done with local materials, what can we get here," Ms Miyake explains.

Children are attending classes twice a week, learning the basic strokes as well as floating techniques.

Ms Miyake says it's about giving them more confidence in the water.

"A lot of them don't want to go very deep or if they do go deep, they don't know how to save themselves so you see a lot of kids grabbing on to each other," she says.

Relvie Poilapa's children are among those taking part.

"They spend almost every weekend down at the beach, I think it's really fun for them, they're keeping fit, they're learning how they could possibly keep themselves afloat if they're in deep water or if they were ever in a situation where they had to implement lifesaving skills of some sort".

While the project is already running on a shoe-string budget and only has enough funding for three months, Nancy Miyake has big dreams to take it much further.

"It's really small now but we're hoping it grows into not just more classes but also get enough people interested that they want to train up to become teachers or coaches or swim clubs."

"We definitely want it to become a national thing but Port Vila is the first step and then we'll go from there".